


Release

by commanderkate (admiralkate)



Category: Terra Nova (TV)
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 14:14:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1431502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/admiralkate/pseuds/commanderkate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s Elisabeth who finds him. Set between getting back to Taylor's camp after, well, you know, and the scene with Taylor and Zoe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Release

It’s Elisabeth who finds him. 

She’s just left Jim, finally asleep, after crying out all his grief on her shoulder. She knew Jim and Wash were friends, the kind of friends that develop after working together and facing some massive challenges together. 

So Elisabeth went to find Taylor. She was beyond exhausted herself, but she reckoned she might be the one person the Commander might open up to. She’s pointed in his general direction by Reilly, and finds him seated on a boulder, staring of into the bush. His head inclines ever so slightly at her approach, so she knows he knows she’s there. She takes a seat beside him and puts her hand on his wrist. He meets her eyes just briefly and resumes staring at the trees. 

Eventually, he speaks. He tells her how he met Wash, when she first joined up. How determined she was not to be overlooked. He tells Elisabeth at how calm Wash was, even in the scariest and most difficult situations, a fact bourne out by what they saw of her last moments. He describes Somalia and Wash’s skills as a medic, some of which Elisabeth already knew. He talks about Wash’s support when Ayani was killed and how she got him through it, because she was his best friend, and that’s what best friends did. Taylor tells her about Wash’s promotions, about informing her she was coming with him to this brave new world. 

And then he tells her about the last few years. 

He’d healed from Ayani, but then there was Lucas. He was so proud that Lucas had been recruited for Terra Nova, and hadn’t just come along as Taylor’s family. But then he’d found out whom Lucas was working for, and their plan, and then everything changed, but his Lieutenant was the one true constant in his life. 

Wash had been the voice of reason in his head; the devil’s advocate and the firebrand that kept him motivated. His own relaxed calm infuriated her, but she told him once that she needed it. 

Taylor then confirms for Elisabeth something she’d long suspected- Taylor and Wash had been in love. They were lovers, and companions, and everything else to each other. He’d been in love with her for years but hadn’t had the courage to do anything about it. (“The Great Nathaniel Taylor lacking for courage” he scoffed.) He’d thought she’d never be interested – he was a damaged old warhorse, and she was just spectacular. One night, after a really bad day in their second year here, he confessed over too many glasses of moonshine that the thought of her kept him going for 118 days alone in the wilderness. She’d shaken her head at him in exasperation, taken his glass from his hand and kissed him. And that is how they’d been since. 

His voice started to fail him then. He had trouble getting the words out. He squeezed Elisabeth’s hand, and said, “We were… we were going to-”

“I know, Nathaniel. I know.”


End file.
